Laurence Ralph

Jun 11, 2024 | themillions.com | Laurence Ralph

In 1972, San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system officials commissioned Oakland artist Michael Rios to create a mural at 24th and Mission Streets. Rumor has it that Rios was torn between his passion for art and his loyalty to his community. When BART announced its plans for the station to be built, the Mission’s residents protested fiercely, blaming BART for increasing rents, which would inevitably price out residents.

Jun 11, 2024 | everand.com | Laurence Ralph

In 1972, San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system officials commissioned Oakland artist Michael Rios to create a mural at 24th and Mission Streets. Rumor has it that Rios was torn between his passion for art and his loyalty to his community. When BART announced its plans for the station to be built, the Mission’s residents protested fiercely, blaming BART for increasing rents, which would inevitably price out residents.

May 11, 2024 | nytimes.com | Laurence Ralph

The rap battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar is about more than whatever personal beefs these two men have with each other. As many have noted, it is a significant moment in hip-hop history, and not just because Mr. Lamar's diss track " Not Like Us," released last week, has become the hip-hop song with the most plays on U.S. Spotify in a single day - surpassing the high set previously by Drake and Lil Baby.

Mar 7, 2024 | time.com | Laurence Ralph

IdeasMarch 6, 2024 7:00 AM ESTRalph is a professor of anthropology and public affairs at Princeton University. His book SITO: An American teenager and the City that Failed Him, is out now from Grand Central PublishingIt was dark and windy the evening of Sunday, September 8, 2019, when Luis Alberto Quiñonez—everyone called him Sito—and his girlfriend, Ariana Bassard, left his girlfriend’s mother’s new apartment in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Feb 23, 2024 | lithub.com | Laurence Ralph

We were asleep in Princeton, New Jersey, when the phone rang. My wife Aisha grabbed for it, listened—then let out a scream so loud, I was afraid the neighbors would call the police. It was her son, Neto—my stepson—on the phone. Neto had just informed his mother that his half-brother was dead. *Luis Alberto Quiñonez—known as Sito—was shot to death while sitting in his car in San Francisco’s Mission District. It was September 8, 2019. Sito was nineteen. His killer, Julius Williams, was seventeen.